Donovan Mitchell has to improve his decision-making skills, says Rudy Gobert
What's the story?
If you take a look at the Box Score from yesterday's match between Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz, you will notice something interesting. There is a big 0 under the assist column in front of Donovan Mitchell's name.
And that has earned the ire of his teammate Rudy Gobert, who made a frank assessment of what Mitchell needs to work on.
In case you didn't know...
In a loss against the 76ers, Mitchell took 35 shots in the game and didn't have even a single assist. He had a horrible shooting night, scoring 13 out of 35 shots attempted, and scored just one shot out of the 11 attempted from the deep.
The heart of the matter
After the game, Gobert talked to the media and said that he needs to improve his decision-making skills. According to Gobert, Mitchell's number one strength is getting to the basket and making plays.
Check out what he said below:
We can see that Gobert is not asking Mitchell to change his style of play but only to improve his decision-making skills. Mitchell took a lot of tough shots yesterday, and shot-selection was definitely an issue. It would not be a bad idea for him to move around the ball and create chances on such an off-shooting night.
Mitchell himself was not happy with his performance. He talked to the media after the match and said that he has to be smart.
"I just can't have a game like that, in my opinion. My teammates are always going to be there for me, having my back. My coach is always going to have my back. That's what keeps me going because I'm hard on myself," Mitchell said on his way to the team bus.
What's next?
Jazz have fallen to a 7-8 record and Mitchell is averaging 21.2 points per game. The area of concern is his shooting, as he is registering just 40.8% from the floor.
Jazz are in the 12th spot in the highly competitive Western Conference. They play against Boston tonight.